Cooling arrangement mounted on a motor vehicle

ABSTRACT

A cooling arrangement for a motor vehicle which comprises a radiator connected to an engine of the motor vehicle, a shroud with a fan arrangement provided behind the radiator for drawing cooling air through the radiator. The shroud has provided at its back wall an aperture with a plurality of doors which shut or open the aperture to control the air flow in dependence on the engine temperature, atmospheric temperature, vehicle speed etc.

United States Patent Izumi Dec. 11, 1973 COOLING ARRANGEMENT MOUNTED ONA MOTOR VEHICLE Inventor: Masao Izumi, Tokyo, Japan Assignee: NissanMotor Company, Limited,

Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama City, Japan Filed: Mar. 29, 1972 Appl. No.:239,138

Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 23, 1971 Japan ....46/98347 US.Cl 165/39, 165/51, 236/352 Int. Cl B60h 1/10 Field of Search 234/35,35.2; 165/1l,35,39,51,42

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1931 Reavis 236/351 3,552,4831/1971 North 125/11 Primary Examiner-Charles Sukalo I Attorney-JohnLezdey et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A cooling arrangement for a motor vehicle which comprisesa radiator connected to an engine of the motor vehicle, a shroud with afan arrangement provided behind the radiator for drawing cooling airthrough the radiator. The shroud has provided at its back wall anaperture with a plurality of doors which shut or open the aperture tocontrol the air flow in dependence on the engine temperature,atmospheric temperature, vehicle speed etc.

1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures PM'ENIED 0E8 I I 1973 F/g. PRIOR ART COOLINGARRANGEMENT MOUNTED ON A MOTOR VEHICLE This invention relates to acooling arrangement for a motor vehicle and more particularly to acooling arrangement which has a fan shroud effective for drawing througha radiator a sufficient amount of air flow.

Conventional engine cooling arrangement for a motor vehicle includes aradiator connected to the engine for cooling a liquid coolant passedthrough the engine, radiator having a plurality of air passages forpassing therethrough ambient air, and a fan shroud combined with theradiator for drawing through the radiator a sufficient amount of coolingair even when the motor vehicle runs slowly. The fan shroud has an inletcommunicating with the air passages of the radiator, and an outlet opento ambient atmosphere having provided therein a fan arrangement whichdraws the cooling air through the air passages of the radiator and thefan shroud.

A problem still has been encountered in that when the motor vehicle runsat a high speed the fan shroud undesiredly obstructs the flow of thecooling air because of the small blast area of the outlet thereof andthe limited capability of drawing the air of the fan arrangementpositioned in the inlet.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improvedcooling arrangement for a motor vehicle engine.

It is another object of the invention to provide an engine coolingarrangement capable of passing therethrough a sufficient amount ofcooling air at any speed of the vehicle.

It is another object of the invention to provide an engine coolingarrangementeffective for reducing windage loss thereof when the vehicleruns at a high speed.

Further and another objects of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a view showing a conventional cooling arrangement for a motorvehicle; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a cooling arrangement according tothis invention.

Corresponding characters of reference designates like elements in theviews.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, thereis illustrated a conventional cooling arrangement which comprises aradiator 11 provided in front of the engine thereby to pass air througha plurality of air passages of the radiator 11 as the vehicle runs inthe forward direction. The radiator 11 communicates through a conduit 12with the engine so as to receive the liquid coolant passed through theengine. Behind the radiator 11 is provided a shroud 13 having an inletcommunicating with the air passages of the radiator l1 and an outlet 14opened to the atmosphere. The cooling air passed through the radiator 11 is drawn by a fan 15 positioned adjacent to or in the outlet 14 with arotary shaft 16 which may be driven through a suitable means by theengine crank shaft or an electric motor (not shown). The cooling airadmitted to the radiator 11 as indicated by arrows A passes through theradiator 11 and the shroud 13, as indicated by broken be noted thatsince the cooling arrangement should be placed in a limited space in thefront portion of the vehicle and the area of the outlet 14 should belimited in order for the effective operation of the fan 15, the shroud13has a back wall 13a angled from the longitudinal central axis of thevehicle. The wall 130 undesiredly obstructs the air flow through theradiator 11 and the shroud 13 when the vehicle runs at a relatively highspeed. The conventional cooling arrangement 10 is therefore not fullyacceptable.

According to this invention, an improved cooling arrangement is providedwhich can avoid such problem as above-mentioned.

In FIG. 2, a cooling arrangement according to this invention is shown,generally designated by 20, which comprises the same parts andconstruction as the cooling arrangement 10 of FIG. 1, except that theshroud 13 has provided at its end wall 13a with an aperture 21. At leastone, preferably a plurality of, doors 22 are hinged to the wall 13a soas to shut or open the aperture 21 in accordance with various conditionsof the vehicle. Of course, the doors 22 may be replaced by other closuremeans, if desired.

The doors 22 are adapted to swing to shut or open the aperture 21through a suitable linkage in accordance with various conditions such asthe atmospheric temperature, vehicle speed, liquid coolant temperatureetc. When, for example, the vehicle runs at a high speed and accordinglythe end wall 13a causes to increase the windage loss of the vehicle orreduces the amount of the air flow through the radiator, the doors 22are actuated to open the aperture 21 so that the cooling air smoothlypasses through the radiator 11 and the shroud 13. When, however, theengine temperature or atmospheric temperature is relatively low, thedoors are actuated to shut the aperture 21 so as to prevent the enginefrom over-cooling, even when the vehicle runs lines B, by the aid of thefan 15. The shroud 13 with the 6 fan 15 is therefore effective formaintaining a sufficient amount of air flow through the radiator 11 evenwhen the vehicle runs at a low speed. In this instance, it is to at ahigh speed. When, on the contrary, the vehicle runs at a relatively lowspeed, the doors 22 are actuated to shut the aperture 21 so that thecooling air flow through the shroud 13 in the same manner as in theconventional one of FIG. 1. The doors 22 may be actuated by a suitableelectric or mechanical system (not shown) and, if desired, the doors 22may be actuated by a spring (not shown) for making doors 22 to close theaperture 21 when the wind pressure exerted on the doors 22 is lower thana certain value. Furthermore, the doors 22 may be manually actuatedthrough a suitable linkage not shown.

It is now apparent from the foregoing description that the coolingarrangement according to this invention is capable of regulating theamount of air flow passing therethrough in accordance with variousconditions and effective for reducing the windage loss of the coolingarrangement when the vehicle runs at a high speed.

It will be understood that the invention is not to be limited to theexact construction shown and described and that various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention, as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A cooling arrangement for a motor vehicle having an enginecomprising:

a radiator operatively connected to said engine for cooling a liquidcoolant passed through said engine, said radiator having a plurality ofair passages for allowing ambient air to pass therethrough;

said outlet; and i a plurality of doors mounted through hinges bearingson said wall in said aperature for selectively opening and shutting saidaperature in accordance with engine temperature, atmospheric temperatureand vehicle speed.

l l k =0

1. A cooling arrangement for a motor vehicle having an enginecomprising: a radiator operatively connected to said engine for coolinga liquid coolant passed through said engine, said radiator having aplurality of air passages for allowing ambient air to pass therethrough;a shroud having an inlet communicating with said air passages of theradiator, an outlet open to ambient atmosphere and an aperture formed inthe wall thereof adjacent to said outlet; a fan arrangement provided insaid outlet of said radiator for drawing said ambient air through saidradiator and said shroud into said outlet; means defining an aperture insaId shroud adjacent said outlet; and a plurality of doors mountedthrough hinges bearings on said wall in said aperature for selectivelyopening and shutting said aperature in accordance with enginetemperature, atmospheric temperature and vehicle speed.